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Russia may have its problems when it comes to transparency in many spheres, but when it comes to natural resources, the country is one of the most open in the world, according to the First Revenue Watch Index.

Only Brazil and Norway are better among the 41 largest producers of energy around the world. The US is 11th.

Juan Carlos Quiroz of Rev-enue Watch said: "In all these countries, oil, gas and minerals are public resources. . . so citizens have a right to know what their governments are doing [with revenues]."

He admitted he hadn’t expected Russia to come in third: "That was a surprise. What we found is that for the period we researched (2006-2009), we found the reports that contained the information we were looking for."